IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ctc/serie5/dipe0026.html

The Effect of External Innovation on Firm Employment

Author

Listed:
  • Guillermo Arenas Díaz

    (Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

  • Andrés Barge-Gil

    (Department of Economic Analysis, Complutense University of Madrid, ICAE and GRIPICO, Madrid, Spain)

  • Joost Heijs

    (Department of Applied Economics, Structure and History, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain)

  • Alberto Marzucchi

    (Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences, L'Aquila, Italia)

Abstract

This paper analyses the effects of product innovations introduced by firms in upstream and downstream sectors and firms in the same sector on firm employment. To this aim, we extend the Harrison et al. (2014) model to analyse the relationship between firm innovation and employment to account for innovation in the same and related sectors. We employ panel data for the innovation activities of Spanish firms together with input–output data. The results show that product innovation by firms in the same sector harms the firm's employment, which is consistent with a business-stealing mechanism. A negative effect on employment is found for the introduction of new products in upstream sectors, which results in the reduction of labour in the focal firm. The type of labour that is displaced by innovations introduced by both same-sector and upstream firms is predominantly low-skilled. No significant effects are found for innovations introduced in downstream industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Guillermo Arenas Díaz & Andrés Barge-Gil & Joost Heijs & Alberto Marzucchi, 2022. "The Effect of External Innovation on Firm Employment," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0026, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dipartimenti.unicatt.it/politica-economica-DIPE0026.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2022
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Innovation, Employment and Skills in Advanced and Developing Countries: A Survey of Economic Literature," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 123-154.
    2. Lachenmaier, Stefan & Rottmann, Horst, 2011. "Effects of innovation on employment: A dynamic panel analysis," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 210-220, March.
    3. Luis Cárdenas del Rey & Daniel Herrero Alba, 2018. "Determinantes socio-institucionales de la distribución de la renta. El caso de España (1987-2015)," Working Papers del Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales 1803, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales.
    4. David Autor & Anna Salomons, 2018. "Is Automation Labor-Displacing? Productivity Growth, Employment, and the Labor Share," NBER Working Papers 24871, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Paul Lanoie, 2008. "When And Why Does It Pay To Be Green?," CIRANO Papers 2008n-02a, CIRANO.
    6. Séamus McGuinness, 2006. "Overeducation in the Labour Market," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 387-418, July.
    7. von Hippel, Eric, 1976. "The dominant role of users in the scientific instrument innovation process," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 212-239, July.
    8. Armanda Cetrulo & Dario Guarascio & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2020. "Anatomy of the Italian occupational structure: concentrated power and distributed knowledge," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(6), pages 1345-1379.
    9. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "Low-Skill and High-Skill Automation," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(2), pages 204-232.
    10. Dieter Verhaest & Eddy Omey, 2006. "Measuring the Incidence of Over- and Undereducation," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 40(5), pages 783-803, October.
    11. José García-Quevedo & Gabriele Pellegrino & Maria Savona, 2017. "Reviving demand-pull perspectives: The effect of demand uncertainty and stagnancy on R&D strategy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(4), pages 1087-1122.
    12. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2014. "Explaining Job Polarization: Routine-Biased Technological Change and Offshoring," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2509-2526, August.
    13. Dachs, Bernhard & Peters, Bettina, 2014. "Innovation, employment growth, and foreign ownership of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 214-232.
    14. Silvia Vannutelli & Sergio Scicchitano & Marco Biagetti, 2022. "Routine-biased technological change and wage inequality: do workers’ perceptions matter?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 409-450, September.
    15. Dosi, G. & Piva, M. & Virgillito, M.E. & Vivarelli, M., 2021. "Embodied and disembodied technological change: The sectoral patterns of job-creation and job-destruction," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(4).
    16. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2020. "Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(6), pages 2188-2244.
    17. Hecht, Jason, 2001. "Classical Labour-Displacing Technological Change: The Case of the US Insurance Industry," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 25(4), pages 517-537, July.
    18. Harrison, Rupert & Jaumandreu, Jordi & Mairesse, Jacques & Peters, Bettina, 2014. "Does innovation stimulate employment? A firm-level analysis using comparable micro-data from four European countries," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 29-43.
    19. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    20. Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2021. "Back to the past: the historical roots of labor-saving automation," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(1), pages 27-57, March.
    21. Jisun Lim & Keun Lee, 2023. "Does Innovation by Firms Still Create Jobs even after the Business Stealing Effect at the Sector Level?," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 97-125, April.
    22. Fabio Montobbio & Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito & Marco Vivarelli, 2024. "The empirics of technology, employment and occupations: Lessons learned and challenges ahead," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1622-1655, December.
    23. Colin Caines & Florian Hoffmann & Gueorgui Kambourov, 2017. "Complex-Task Biased Technological Change and the Labor Market," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 25, pages 298-319, April.
    24. Bogliacino, Francesco & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "R&D and employment: An application of the LSDVC estimator using European microdata," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 56-59.
    25. Javier Ortiz & Vicente Salas Fumás, 2020. "Technological innovation and the demand for labor by firms in expansion and recession," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 417-440, May.
    26. Jacques Mairesse & Yilin Wu, 2019. "Impacts of innovation, export, and other factors on firm employment growth in Chinese manufacturing industries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(1), pages 123-138.
    27. Sandro Montresor & Giuseppe Vittucci Marzetti, 2008. "Innovation Clusters in Technological Systems: A Network Analysis of 15 OECD Countries for the Mid-1990s," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 321-346.
    28. Bogliacino, Francesco & Pianta, Mario, 2010. "Innovation and Employment: a Reinvestigation using Revised Pavitt classes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 799-809, July.
    29. Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 1998. "Technology and Changes in Skill Structure: Evidence from Seven OECD Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1215-1244.
    30. Kunapatarawong, Rasi & Martínez-Ros, Ester, 2016. "Towards green growth: How does green innovation affect employment?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1218-1232.
    31. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Melissa S. Kearney, 2006. "The Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 189-194, May.
    32. Nathalie Greenan & Dominique Guellec, 2000. "Technological Innovation and Employment Reallocation," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 14(4), pages 547-590, December.
    33. Van Reenen, John, 1997. "Employment and Technological Innovation: Evidence from U.K. Manufacturing Firms," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 255-284, April.
    34. Franco Malerba, 2005. "Sectoral systems of innovation: a framework for linking innovation to the knowledge base, structure and dynamics of sectors," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1-2), pages 63-82.
    35. García-Vega, María & Vicente-Chirivella, Óscar, 2020. "Do university technology transfers increase firms’ innovation?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    36. Jacques Mairesse, 2008. "Employment, innovation, and productivity: evidence from Italian microdata," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(4), pages 813-839, August.
    37. Rosa Dangelico & Devashish Pujari, 2010. "Mainstreaming Green Product Innovation: Why and How Companies Integrate Environmental Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(3), pages 471-486, September.
    38. Francesco Bogliacino & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Technology and employment: the job creation effect of business R&D," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 126(3), pages 239-264.
    39. Bernhard Dachs & Martin Hud & Christian Köhler & Bettina Peters, 2016. "Employment Effects of Innovations over the Business Cycle: Firm-Level Evidence from European Countries," DEM Discussion Paper Series 16-20, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    40. Pavitt, Keith, 1984. "Sectoral patterns of technical change: Towards a taxonomy and a theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 343-373, December.
    41. Pablo D’Este & Alberto Marzucchi & Francesco Rentocchini, 2018. "Exploring and yet failing less: learning from past and current exploration in R&D," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(3), pages 525-553.
    42. David H. Autor, 2015. "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    43. Bernhard Dachs & Martin Hud & Christian Koehler & Bettina Peters, 2017. "Innovation, creative destruction and structural change: firm-level evidence from European countries," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 346-381, May.
    44. Luca Cattani & Giovanni Guidetti & Giulio Pedrini, 2018. "Overeducation among Italian graduates: do different measures diverge?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(2), pages 491-521, August.
    45. Francesco Bogliacino & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Technology and employment: the job creation effect of business R&D," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 122(3), pages 239-264.
    46. Belderbos, Rene & Capannelli, Giovanni & Fukao, Kyoji, 2001. "Backward Vertical Linkages of Foreign Manufacturing Affiliates: Evidence from Japanese Multinationals," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 189-208, January.
    47. Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2004. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers Through Backward Linkages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 605-627, June.
    48. Flavio Calvino & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2018. "The Innovation†Employment Nexus: A Critical Survey Of Theory And Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 83-117, February.
    49. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2004. "The determinants of the skill bias in Italy: R&D, organisation or globalisation?," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 329-347.
    50. Lawrence F. Katz & Robert A. Margo, 2014. "Technical Change and the Relative Demand for Skilled Labor: The United States in Historical Perspective," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital in History: The American Record, pages 15-57, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    51. Rajeev K. Goel & Michael A. Nelson, 2022. "Employment effects of R&D and process innovation: evidence from small and medium-sized firms in emerging markets," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(1), pages 97-123, March.
    52. Giulio Cainelli & Rinaldo Evangelista & Maria Savona, 2004. "The impact of innovation on economic performance in services," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 116-130, January.
    53. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    54. David Autor, 2022. "The Labor Market Impacts of Technological Change: From Unbridled Enthusiasm to Qualified Optimism to Vast Uncertainty," NBER Working Papers 30074, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    55. Scherer, F M, 1982. "Inter-Industry Technology Flows and Productivity Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(4), pages 627-634, November.
    56. James Bessen, 2019. "Automation and jobs: when technology boosts employment," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 34(100), pages 589-626.
    57. repec:bin:bpeajo:v:49:y:2019:i:2018-01:p:1-87 is not listed on IDEAS
    58. Mehmet Ugur & Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Edna Solomon, 2018. "Technological Innovation And Employment In Derived Labour Demand Models: A Hierarchical Meta†Regression Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 50-82, February.
    59. Díaz, Guillermo Arenas & Barge-Gil, Andrés & Heijs, Joost, 2020. "The effect of innovation on skilled and unskilled workers during bad times," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 141-158.
    60. Joel Mokyr & Chris Vickers & Nicolas L. Ziebarth, 2015. "The History of Technological Anxiety and the Future of Economic Growth: Is This Time Different?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 31-50, Summer.
    61. Raquel Sebastian, 2018. "Explaining job polarisation in Spain from a task perspective," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 215-248, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Guillermo Arenas Díaz & Alex J. Guerrero & Joost Heijs, 2024. "The effects of product and process innovation on employment: a meta-regression analysis," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(1), pages 35-68, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jasmine Mondolo, 2022. "The composite link between technological change and employment: A survey of the literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1027-1068, September.
    2. Borsato, Andrea & Lorentz, André, 2023. "The Kaldor–Verdoorn law at the age of robots and AI," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(10).
    3. Guillermo Arenas Díaz & Alex J. Guerrero & Joost Heijs, 2024. "The effects of product and process innovation on employment: a meta-regression analysis," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(1), pages 35-68, March.
    4. Hang, Leiming & Lu, Wei & Ge, Xiaowei & Ye, Bin & Zhao, Zhiqi & Cheng, Fangfang, 2024. "R&D innovation, industrial evolution and the labor skill structure in China manufacturing," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    5. Heijs, Joost & Arenas Díaz, Guillermo & Vergara Reyes, Delia Margarita, 2019. "Impact of innovation on employment in quantitative terms: review of empirical literature based on microdata," MPRA Paper 95326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Başak Dalgıç & Burcu Fazlıoğlu & Aytekin Güven, 2023. "Innovation, employment and market structure: firm level evidence from Turkey," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 1385-1407, September.
    7. Van Roy, Vincent & Vértesy, Dániel & Vivarelli, Marco, 2018. "Technology and employment: Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1762-1776.
    8. Damioli, G. & Van Roy, V. & Vertesy, D. & Vivarelli, M., 2021. "May AI revolution be labour-friendly? Some micro evidence from the supply side," GLO Discussion Paper Series 823, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2018. "Innovation, jobs, skills and tasks: a multifaceted relationship," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0001, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    10. Laura Barbieri & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2019. "R&D, embodied technological change, and employment: evidence from Italian microdata," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(1), pages 203-218.
    11. Giacomo Damioli & Vincent Van Roy & Daniel Vertesy & Marco Vivarelli, 2021. "Detecting the labour-friendly nature of AI product innovation," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0017, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    12. Damioli, Giacomo & Van Roy, Vincent & Vertesy, Daniel & Vivarelli, Marco, 2021. "Will the AI revolution be labour-friendly? Some micro evidence from the supply side," MERIT Working Papers 2021-016, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    13. Dosi, G. & Piva, M. & Virgillito, M.E. & Vivarelli, M., 2021. "Embodied and disembodied technological change: The sectoral patterns of job-creation and job-destruction," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(4).
    14. Gabriele Pellegrino & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2019. "Beyond R&D: the role of embodied technological change in affecting employment," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 1151-1171, September.
    15. Castro Silva, Hugo & Lima, Francisco, 2017. "Technology, employment and skills: A look into job duration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1519-1530.
    16. Carlos Bianchi & Hugo Laguna, 2020. "Firm’s innovation strategies and employment: new evidence from Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 20-06, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    17. Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten, 2018. "Employment impacts of market novelty sales: evidence for nine European Countries," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(2), pages 119-137, June.
    18. Vivarelli, Marco, 2018. "Globalisation, structural change and innovation in emerging economies: The impact on employment and skills," MERIT Working Papers 2018-037, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    19. Fernández, Sara & Torrecillas, Celia & Díaz, Guillermo Arenas, 2024. "Does eco-innovation stimulate employment? The case of Spanish manufacturing firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 571-585.
    20. Kristina Matuzeviciute & Mindaugas Butkus & Akvile Karaliute, 2017. "Do Technological Innovations Affect Unemployment? Some Empirical Evidence from European Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-19, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0026. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Fabio Montobbio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dscatit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.